Predictive value of arterial blood lactate/serum albumin ratio for myocardial injury in elderly patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia

To investigate the predictive value of arterial blood lactate (Lac)/serum albumin (Alb) ratio (Lac/Alb) on myocardial injury in elderly patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia (SCAP). Seventy-two elderly SCAP patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the emergency department of Hebei General Hospital from March 2020 to March 2021 were included, and the general data and arterial blood Lac and serum Alb levels were collected, and Lac/Alb values were calculated. The patients were divided into myocardial injury group (n = 25) and nonmyocardial injury group (n = 47) according to whether the myocardial injury occurred during their ICU stay, and the predictive value of Lac/Alb on myocardial injury in elderly patients with SCAP was assessed using receiver operating characteristic curve and area under the curve. There were no statistically significant differences in age and gender between the 2 groups (both P > .05), and there were no statistical differences in oxygenation index, procalcitonin, C-reactive protein, lymphocyte count, and Alb levels between the 2 groups (all P > .05). Neutrophil count, neutrophil\lymphocyte ratio, serum creatinine, Lac, and Lac/Alb levels were significantly higher in patients in the myocardial injury group than in the nonmyocardial injury group [13.90 (11.07,19.67) × 10(9)/L vs 10.79 (8.16,14.23) × 10(9)/L, 26.48 (20.07,31.88) vs 17.79 (9.85,27.23), 135.71 (81.50,284.75) μmol/L vs 76.30 (60.30,140.30) μmol/L, 3.0 (2.2,4.5) mmol/L vs 2.1 (1.6,3.1) mmol/L, 1.34 (0.88,2.16) vs 0.78 (0.60,1.12), all P < .05]. Patients in the myocardial injury group had a significantly higher mortality rate in the ICU than in the nonmyocardial injury group (72.0% vs 36.2%, P < .01). Neutrophils, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, serum creatinine, Lac, and Lac/Alb showed a weak positive correlation with myocardial injury in patients (all P < .05). The area under the curve of Lac/Alb for predicting myocardial injury in elderly patients with SCAP was 0.737 (95% confidence interval 0.620–0.834), and the sensitivity and specificity of the prediction with 1.21 as the cutoff value were 60.00% and 78.72%, respectively. Lac/Alb has an excellent predictive value for myocardial injury in elderly SCAP patients.